New funding for Pharmac welcome but significantly more still needed

The Associate Health Minister David Seymour has today announced the Government will boost Pharmac's budget by more than $1.7 billion over the next four years.

We welcome this investment to the drug buying agency because it means that all of the medicines New Zealanders can already access will continue to be publicly funded.

However, this new money sadly doesn't touch the broader problem of Kiwis being denied new, modern drugs.

“The $1.774 billion investment won’t cover the 13 new cancer drugs National promised it would fund, or any other new treatment on Pharmac’s Options for Investment list," says our chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner, in response to today's news.

“There is still an urgent need to significantly increase Pharmac’s funding and we really hope to see this addressed in the Government’s Budget next month. Because right now, there are breast cancer patients who are having to fundraise tens of thousands of dollars for drugs to save and extend their lives, or go simply go without.”